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Travelbloggers: Los Traveleros

8:26:00 PM

About to go on a trip?

What are your rituals and tricks before packing your bags and leaving? A gorgeous source I always check prior my trips around Europe is my friend's blog LosTraveleros. Both journalists-to-be, Albert and Blanca have been travelling around all the world for some time now, and they share all kinds of tips and recommendations on their travelblog (in Spanish). With a figure of 1000 visitors per day, this couple gives information on what to see/do/know prior landing. Not only that but you can also enjoy close up and personal experiences they have lived -some great and others kind of frightening- to get a real glimpse of what it is like to travel around the world, sometimes it is not just a walk in the park.

Why did you launch LosTraveleros and what's behind the name?

We created this blog because we were travelling a lot and wanted to share tips and give advice to other travellers. At the beginning it was something from both sides: there are some blogs that are great, why not joining this world? There's never a 100% complete blog, even if it doesn't seem so, we think people who enjoy travelling should have a blog and help others. Travelling is not easy so it is essential to be informed before booking a ticket and other blogs can be really helpful with that.

Our name was easy to decide, though it was not our first option. We tried some domains out, but some ideas were already taken. After some time "Los Traveleros" came out and we didn't doubt about it. We liked it. And it is a name that perfectly describes us: word games between travel and giving it a Spanish-like sense, it gives a young and happy image that we have when travelling. Travelling itself is an integration so that's why we like it.

2. You travel a lot. How do you combine that with your studies?

Our studies (Journalism) are not a demanding bachelor degree. You are old enough to decide whether to attend your lessons or not at university. Moreover is a very practical degree so if you are organized and plan in advance there is no problem. We are very disciplined, but we think that travelling itself has taught us more than everyday lessons at university. When you have to act in certain hard situations, that's more useful than having the best tutor in Harvard.

3. What has been the best and worst experience so far?

The best one is always the hardest one to choose, since travelling gives you great memories. Perhaps having a bath in Hawaiian waters, when you are at the other side of the world, completely alone with your partner. That freedom-like feeling is hard to get better, though our first time in New York, an evening in Budapest or playing with kangaroos in Australia are hard to forget too.

The worst one was in Munich, where we experienced a terrorist threat on new year's eve. We could not sleep and the following day we moved to another country to feel safer so we went to Salzburg. Reading that a terrorist attack could happen at any time made us feel in a way that is difficult to explain.

4. Tourist or traveller?

We are travellers. Sure there are different kinds of travellers, we might be in the middle of it: neither low-cost nor luxuries. Some people don't consider others to be travellers if they don't carry a backpack and sleep in forests seeking adventures. That's not right. Everyone should feel like a traveller because each one seeks whatever makes him/her happy. We don't really want to find ourselves in hard situations unless the situation makes it so. Otherwise we would stay at home. Each trip is an adventure, the atmosphere is what makes it different.

5. Do you get inside the culture? Talk to the locals, learn things...

We do get deep in culture! It's one of the best things when travelling. We try to eat typical dishes and meet people. For instance, Australia, a country which seems to be super developed apparently: we found big differences between white people and aboriginals. We did some research and found out lots of things, like racism in the States. That doesn't happen only in the movies, that's the everyday life. Information about a country is essential. What we do most research on is danger and safety so we can avoid lots of trouble.

Maldives

4. Hotel, hostel, Airbnb or Couchsurfing?

We do prefer hotels because that's the most comfortable option. You can arrive there at 6am and if you don't have your room yet you can leave your bags and forget about it. Same happens when checking out. There are some apartments that are better than hotels but we don't like them that much. We tried everything but couchsurfing. One of the best options is to book a private room in a shared apartment: cheaper and you get to know some locals so you can learn something from their culture. Australia is the perfect place to do so, because you save some money and people are great. We would recommend that to anyone.

5. Language: English all the way or some local basics before landing?

Nowadays Spanish and English take you anywhere. We spoke in Spanish more than English when in Los Angeles. Where we found more difficulties regarding language was in France and Italy. Luckily their languages are similar to Spanish, otherwise we would have a problem!

6. Is living abroad an option or do you want to keep travelling around?

Living abroad would be a dream for us. There are some cities we have put an eye on, such as San Francisco, Budapest, New York or London. But that's not easy. We hope to continue travelling for good and if once we are lucky enough to have a good salary and a job that allows travelling, we would like to live in lots of countries.

Australia

7. How has your blog grown so far?

We didn't expect it to be so successful. We didn't create it aiming to create a business but rather to help people. Now we have around 1000 daily visitors, which is not impressive but for us this is a lot. We usually write one or two posts per week to keep our commitment with our readers.

9. What's next for you?

We don't plan our trips months in advance. If we spot some place we like and can fit a trip into our calendar, we book tickets a couple of weeks before. We would like to visit Santorini by the end of September, the island must be wonderful, but we don't know yet. Next year we would like to go back to Hawaii and visit all the islands, or head to China, which is completely different.

10. .What have you gain from this experience and what advice would you give to other travellers?

Travelling is the best school, and sharing your experiences with others who have the same passion is wonderful. One of the things that took our attention is that people really have different taste one from another: even though some tell us a certain city is disappointing, we'll visit it anyway. You have to see everything with your own eyes. Everyone told us Los Angeles' Walk of Fame was overvalued but we really found it very original.

Our advice is to pack your bags, get tons of information and head to see the world without any fear. You only need determination to travel around!

These guys are only in their early twenties and have seen half the world. Like the one behind these lines, they do believe you should keep on going to the same place if you are in love with it and you still discover new things. Sure they will have lots of tales to tell in a few years!